Thank you, Grandma, for being such a wonderful, generous and loving grandma.
I just visited my grandma and it had been too long since I last saw her. Our visit wasn’t going to be very long and I had this strong feeling I needed to really make it count. After an afternoon of hanging out, catching up, hugging and smiling, it was time to go.
I never liked saying goodbye to my grandma. Growing up in the Milwaukee area with my grandma living a 5-hour car ride away, goodbye meant not knowing when I would see her again. It meant missing her. It meant holding my breath until getting to go back to one of my favorite places in the world. And it meant seeing her cry.
Yesterday’s visit was no different. I felt the same dread when it was time to say goodbye. It’s funny how in some ways we never grow up. I hugged her, kissed her, hugged her again. I began to leave and then, something stopped me.
I recently did a coaching call for my OVERCOMERS group in my series called, Words Matter. The title of this call was “Thank You.” On the call, I told a story of a man who decided to thank each of his employees for what they added to his company. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, this business owner had no idea that expressing his gratitude would save a life. A man that he had previously given little attention to, along with everyone else in the company, was preparing to commit suicide at the exact time that his boss’s thank you came. And it saved his life. When he realized that someone cared and that he was making a difference in this company and more importantly, in someone’s life, the thought of suicide suddenly made him shutter. He sold his gun and bought a gift for his boss as a thank you for the thank you.
As I started walking away from Grandma, I thought about this story. I stopped, turned around, walked back over and knelt down in front of her.
As I took her hands in mine I said, “Grandma, I have something I want to tell you. Thank you for being such a great grandma. Some of the best memories in my life are with you, here up north. You were always so wonderful, generous and loving to me. THANK YOU for loving me and teaching me how to be an awesome grandma! I love you.”
My grandma didn’t know what to say. She squeezed my hands, pulled me in for another hug and kiss and with tears in her eyes she said, “I love you so much… I think about you so often…more often than you know.”
I will never stop being thankful for my grandma’s love. And I will always remember to say, “thank you,” because words matter.
extra ✺ ordinary 